Rebus Puzzles
A rebus is a picture that says a word. These rebus puzzles are drawn on the page, so you type what you think it says and find out straight away. There are 30, and the answer is there when you ask.
- Puzzle 1
The word FIVE placed right at the top of the box, with empty space under it. Show me the answer
high five. FIVE is up high. That is all there is to it — and now you know how these work.
- Puzzle 2
The word SIT resting on the very bottom of the box. Show me the answer
sit down. SIT is at the bottom. Where a word sits on the page is part of the puzzle.
- Puzzle 3
The word DOWN rotated a half turn, so its letters sit the other way up. Show me the answer
upside down. The word DOWN has been turned over. The puzzle does what it says.
- Puzzle 4
The word FRONT mirrored, so it reads from right to left. Show me the answer
back to front. FRONT has been turned round the wrong way.
- Puzzle 5
The word BROTHER written enormously large. Show me the answer
big brother. How big a word is drawn is part of what it says.
- Puzzle 6
The letter C, then the letter U, then the word LATER. Show me the answer
see you later. C sounds like "see" and U sounds like "you". Letters that sound like words are half of this game.
- Puzzle 7
The word SECOND cut in two, with a wide gap in the middle: SEC and OND. Show me the answer
split second. SECOND has been cut in half.
- Puzzle 8
The word SIDE written twice, one right next to the other. Show me the answer
side by side. Two SIDEs, next to each other. Nothing hidden in this one.
- Puzzle 9
The word OUT drawn inside a box. Show me the answer
inside out. OUT is on the inside. The two words swapped places.
- Puzzle 10
An arrow pointing left, the word LOOK, and an arrow pointing right. Show me the answer
look both ways. LOOK, with an arrow going each way. The one worth remembering at a kerb.
- Puzzle 11
The word BACK written twice, the first one mirrored, so the two words meet in the middle. Show me the answer
back to back. Two BACKs, joined where their ends meet.
- Puzzle 12
The word AWAKE with big gaps between every letter. Show me the answer
wide awake. AWAKE has been opened right out.
- Puzzle 13
The word TALK written very, very small. Show me the answer
small talk. The size of the word is the whole clue. Compare it with the BROTHER one.
- Puzzle 14
The word WORD, then the digit 4, then the word WORD again. Show me the answer
word for word. 4 sounds like "for". Numbers stand in for words that sound like them.
- Puzzle 15
The word ROADS with a big X drawn over it. Show me the answer
crossroads. ROADS with a cross through them.
- Puzzle 16
The word READING with a long straight rule above it and another long straight rule below it. Show me the answer
reading between the lines. READING, and it is sat between two of them.
- Puzzle 17
The word LIGHT written in green. Show me the answer
green light. The colour of the word is the clue this time.
- Puzzle 18
A drawing of an eye, the digit 2, then another eye. Show me the answer
eye to eye. 2 sounds like "to", with one on each side of it.
- Puzzle 19
A heart split down the middle into two pieces, with a jagged gap between them. Show me the answer
broken heart. A heart in two pieces. Some of these are pictures and nothing else.
- Puzzle 20
The numbers 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, each one lower down than the last. Show me the answer
countdown. Counting, and heading downwards while it does it.
- Puzzle 21
The word WATER on top, and the word WEAR directly beneath it. Show me the answer
underwear. WEAR is under WATER. Say that out loud and you have it.
- Puzzle 22
The word TIME stretched out very wide, then the letter C with a big X over it. Show me the answer
long time no see. TIME drawn long, and no C — which sounds like "see".
- Puzzle 23
The word TIME with its bottom half cut away, so only the top of each letter is there. Show me the answer
half time. You are only being shown half of TIME.
- Puzzle 24
The word ONE with a round hole punched clean through the middle of it. Show me the answer
hole in one. There is a hole, and it is in ONE.
- Puzzle 25
The number 1,000,000 written large and faint, with the word ONE sitting in the middle of it. Show me the answer
one in a million. ONE, sat inside a million.
- Puzzle 26
The top half of a sun behind a straight line, with two small arrows beside it pointing up. Show me the answer
sunrise. A sun coming up over the horizon. The arrows are there so it cannot be the other one.
- Puzzle 27
A cake with three candles on it, and one triangular slice standing clear of it. Show me the answer
a piece of cake. One piece, taken off a cake.
- Puzzle 28
Five letters in a jumble: X, D, M, E and I. Show me the answer
mixed up. They are the letters of MIXED, and somebody has shuffled them.
- Puzzle 29
The word NOWHERE with an arrow underneath, pointing up at its middle. Show me the answer
the middle of nowhere. The arrow is showing you the middle of NOWHERE.
- Puzzle 30
The word FRIENDS with its letters set around in a ring. Show me the answer
circle of friends. FRIENDS, drawn as a ring.
How to read a rebus
Say what you can see, in plain words, before you try to be clever. The word DOWN, turned over. Then say it as a sentence and listen to it — that is usually the answer.
Four things do most of the work, and once you know them you will spot them everywhere:
- Where it sits. High up, down at the bottom, on top of something, inside a box.
- Which way round it is. Backwards, upside down, mirrored.
- What has been done to it. Cut in half, crossed out, stretched wide, squeezed small, a hole punched through it.
- Letters and numbers that sound like words. C is "see", U is "you", 4 is "for", 2 is "to".
Like puzzles you can actually finish?
Anagrove gives everybody the same six letters each day. Five ordinary words to find, and then every other word you can spot in the same six. No timer, no coins, and nothing to download.
Questions people ask
- What is a rebus puzzle?
- A rebus is a picture that says a word. Letters, numbers and little drawings are arranged so that the arrangement itself is the clue — a word drawn upside down means "upside down", a word inside a box means "inside". You read what you are shown, then say it out loud.
- How do you solve a rebus puzzle?
- Describe what is in front of you out loud, in the plainest words you have, and listen to the sentence you just said. That is nearly always the answer. The four things to look at are on this page under "How to read a rebus".
- What is an example of a rebus puzzle?
- The word SECOND cut in two, with a gap down the middle. SECOND has been split, so the answer is "split second". That one is on this page and so are twenty-nine others.
- Are these rebus puzzles good for kids?
- Yes. They are written for about ten and up, and the answers are things a ten-year-old has actually heard — "high five", "countdown", "a piece of cake". Every puzzle also says why it works once you have the answer, so a puzzle you miss still teaches you something. There is no sign-up and nothing to download.
- Which is the hardest one here?
- Most people get stuck on the jumbled letters and on the one with an arrow pointing at the middle of a word. The last ten are the tricky ones — they need you to say the picture out loud twice, once for what it is and once for what it sounds like. None of them needs a word you have not heard.
- Can I print these rebus puzzles?
- No, and it is worth saying plainly. These are built to be solved on the screen, because that is the part a printed sheet cannot do: you type your answer and find out straight away whether you were right. A print-out can only show you the answer.
- Are the puzzles here copied from anywhere?
- No. All thirty were written for this page and drawn in the browser out of text and shapes, which is why they load instantly and look sharp on any screen. Nothing here is scanned from a worksheet.
More word things
- Anagram solver — type your letters, get every word they make.
- Word descrambler — the same thing, for jumbled words.
- Word lists — by length and by letter, ordinary words first.
- Anagrove — the daily six-letter word game.
- A daily word game where finishing is not the point — how Anagrove works.